Ain't no worse than, say, the old "laundry in the main pack tray" routine......

Except the old "laundry in the main pack tray" routine has never actually been used. That was a movie. Yes it was funny and no harm no foul, but I really don't want to spend all next season telling people that I will not do this to their friend. Unless of course they are talking about a lot of money.

Well, I am just a brand new TI, and an AFFI for less than a year, but my opinion is that no instructor should purposefully terrorize a student. You never know, had the guy been provided a professional experience, he might have decided to become a skydiver. I suspect he has no interest in that now. We need to keep in mind, I think, that the skydive is the tandem student's skydive and that the student is not a tool for our own amusement or the amusement of some third party willing to pay to terrorize the student. Our job is to provide a professional, safe, and fun experience for the student. What was done to the student was probably not "unsafe" but I don't believe it was either "professional" or fun for the student. That's my personal opinion but I think the very experienced TIs at my DZ would probably agree.

This was done specifically for a new(er) form of entertainment on the internet. How is it so different then the different things done involving skydiving for TV and the movies? Its slightly different, but all in all its still skydiving making arrangements for the entertainment industry.

Sure tandem jumps are a legitimate form of instruction, no one doubts this. This really isn't any different then MTV doing a TV show with an AFF jump (like they did a few years ago for one of their "reality" shows). It really isn't any different then any of the accommodations for the entertainment industry that skydiving has made over the last 40 years.

Well, I am just a brand new TI, and an AFFI for less than a year, but my opinion is that no instructor should purposefully terrorize a student. You never know, had the guy been provided a professional experience, he might have decided to become a skydiver. I suspect he has no interest in that now. We need to keep in mind, I think, that the skydive is the tandem student's skydive and that the student is not a tool for our own amusement or the amusement of some third party willing to pay to terrorize the student. Our job is to provide a professional, safe, and fun experience for the student. What was done to the student was probably not "unsafe" but I don't believe it was either "professional" or fun for the student. That's my personal opinion but I think the very experienced TIs at my DZ would probably agree.

the student is not a tool for our own amusement or the amusement of some third party willing to pay to terrorize the student.

Unless it's for the right price, of course!

Look dude, you gotta quit being so 1996 man, it's a new century bro, thaaaangs is diff these daze you dig. Hell a lot of dz's been paying a third party to terrorize the students, these guys are making all the bread doing it in house and having a good time too.. Hey man 2009 already it's all about the cash flow "show me the money" bitch!

And if he'd freaked, and started grabbing handles, or maybe grabbed the TI's hands and toggles in a death grip at 50 feet? D'oh!! Never thought of that, did we? No problem; as long as it's funny, that makes it ok.

And if he'd freaked, and started grabbing handles, or maybe grabbed the TI's hands and toggles in a death grip at 50 feet? D'oh!! Never thought of that, did we? No problem; as long as it's funny, that makes it ok.

At 50 feet he already knew about the joke...hell at 1k feet he knew about it...you could see that sign from 2k

You're either missing the point or evading it: a professional skydiving instructor does not participate in the terrorizing of a first-jump student, especially while the jump is in progress. Nitpicking over this detail or that does not change that.

Please allow the Nazis to own their reputation and stop diluting what they did by spreading their name around to others. The Nazis of WW II Germany were THE Nazis and no one else deserves to be lumped in with them. It's fucking disgusting! No one else should ever be called one. Unless they were.

Please allow the Nazis to own their reputation and stop diluting what they did by spreading their name around to others. The Nazis of WW II Germany were THE Nazis and no one else deserves to be lumped in with them. It's fucking disgusting! No one else should ever be called one. Unless they were.